Marrying China?

Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar explained that President Rodrigo Duterte's statement regarding the Philippine's separation from the United States of America is more like a son leaving his father's house to be with his wife.

It's a cute way of explaining something that is really a complex and multifaceted relationship. 

As I've been saying in the past, one way (certainly no the best way) to understand president Rodrigo Duterte is to look at how players (playboys/playgirls) behave in establishing and maintaining relationships.

The first thing you have to understand about player behavior is that their approach to relationships is tentative although they may imbue it with appearances of being lasting or permanent. 

It doesn't mean that the player is insincere about the relationship, it just recognizes the reality that people and situations change regardless of the vows and promises that may be made in the heat of the moment.

So, in short, leaving Father America's house to cleave to a beloved wife doesn't quite capture what president Duterte's trip to China was all about.

Rather than put it in cute terms, I'd rather explain Duterte's trip to China another way just for fun.

In my story, I'd portray China as a tiger staking out the edges of its territory and America as an eagle (what else?) passing through it. 

Now, at the edges of the Chinese tiger's territory is Juan's little homestead and Juan's problem is that the tiger is making it difficult for him to go about his business of finding food for his family.

Juan's uncle tried to shoo the tiger away, but to no avail. In a bid of desperation, Juan's uncle lured an Eagle to try and scare the tiger away, but this too failed to scare it.

Worse, it seemed that upon seeing the eagle, the tiger began staking out a spot near the threshold of Juan's homestead and it bothered him a lot because that spot was where his favorite fish pond was. Even more, the eagle that his father lured was making a mess of things in his homestead and making it difficult for his family to go about their usual business. 

Finally, Juan got fed up and told his uncle to leave the matter to him.

In the following days, Juan observed that while the tiger snarled and growled near his homestead, it only did so when it saw the eagle hovering near his spot. In fact, where ever the eagle soared, other members of the tiger's family would go there to snarl and growl at the eagle. 

After several more days of observing the tiger and the eagle, it dawned on Juan that perhaps if the eagle weren't at this homestead, the tiger would have no reason to stake out the spot which lead to his favorite fish pond. 

So, in the next few days, Juan began working to dissuade the eagle from staying in his homestead.